More Oakland schools sued

By DAVE PHILLIPS, For the Daily Tribune

Monday, November 19, 2012

November has been a month of lawsuits against Oakland County school districts.

A lawsuit regarding the cost of school items for parents of Birmingham Public Schools students ignited the trend earlier this month, and lawsuits filed against school districts in Southfield and Clarkston earlier this week pushed things along.

The Clarkston lawsuit is over a former cheerleader’s injuries suffered in a fall during a 2008 cheerleading stunt.

Lindsey Friend has filed a lawsuit through her attorney, Scott Erskine, regarding her injuries sustained in a fall on Sept. 29, 2008.

Friend was a member of the Clarkston Junior Varsity Cheerleading Team as a ninth grader at Clarkston Junior High at that time.

On that day, she was participating in cheerleading practice when she fell to the ground “with great force and violence and suffered severe, grievous and permanent personal injuries” during a stunt called a “double down acrobatic maneuver.”

“Clarkston cheer coaches had a freshman in high school performing a stunt that is so inherently dangerous that it is now outlawed in most of the country,” Erskine said during a brief phone conversation.

Friend suffered a concussion, a spinal cord injury and a traumatic brain injury, according to the lawsuit. She suffers from memory loss, post-concussive syndrome, post traumatic stress disorder, pain, suffering, discomfort and extreme physical and emotional suffering, severe embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, tension and mortification and the loss of the natural enjoyments of life, the suit states.

The suit seeks an award “in whatever amount to which she is entitled to receive,” as well as legal costs.

Jaclyn Fahrner, the cheerleading coach at the time, is also listed as a defendant on the lawsuit.

The school district did not return a message seeking comment.

In Southfield, the district is being sued over a student’s suspension after photos that allegedly show him displaying gang symbols were discovered online.

Jacqueline Robinson, spokeswoman for the Southfield School District, said the district has not yet been served with the lawsuit. She confirmed that some students were suspended following an investigation regarding “some information that came to us via social media.

“These students were in hearings, they participated in hearings over the course of a few weeks.” Robinson said.

“Most have been reinstated.”The lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Fortner, claims the student listed as the plaintiff was not involved in any hearings prior to his suspension.

“(The school district) gave Plaintiff no hearing whatsoever in reaching its determination that Plaintiff should be suspended,” the lawsuit states.

The student will be returning to school at some point, Robinson said. She was unaware of any possible criminal investigation.

Fortner did not return a message seeking comment.

The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that his suspension without a hearing was unlawful, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctive relief reinstating the plaintiff to attendance at his school.

Awards compensating the plaintiff for lost educational opportunities, mental anguish, emotional distress, embarrassment and humiliation, as well as punitive damages against the school district “as a result of the reckless indifference with which (the district) violated Plaintiff’s right to due process of law,” legal fees and additional relief are also sought.